Prospect of Pelagic Fisheries in Northern Sulawesi, Indonesia

Approximately 90 per cent of total catches in northern Sulawesi are pelagic fishes. About two-third of them are large pelagic fish, such as tunas (Katsuwonus, Thunnus, Euthynnus). However the National Assessment Stock Commission reported that availability of the large pelagic fishes in Sulawesi and Maluku Sea is just about one-third of the total pelagic fish resources. Even in the last report the large pelagic fishes in the region are indicating nearly overexploited. In contras, small pelagic fish such as mackerel scads, travellies, sardine, needlefish, Indian mackerel, and flyingfish is less than 40 per cent of the total allowable catch (TAC) exploited. Fishing activities on large pelagic fish by means of pole and line, longline etc. are mainly conducted by fishing industries based in the area of Bitung. This situation may give negative impact on fishing industries due to overexploitation of the large pelagic fish. To maintain the current fishing industries, expansion in fishing fleets for large scale pelagic fisheries should be reviewed. And in another hand, the small pelagic fishing industries should be developing in terms of number of fleets and coverage area. As those small-pelagic fish industries are running by small-and middle scale industries, and concentrated only in two market area in North Sulawesi (Bitung and Manado), an infrastructure of fish storage for remote area in northern area such Sangihe and Talaud Islands should be develop.